How To Cook Mung Beans

If you've ever eaten the thick, white bean sprouts located in the produce section of your grocery store, you've had one form of mung bean. In their whole, dried form, mung beans are small and round. The unpeeled beans are brown, while the peeled beans can be yellow, green or black. No type of mung beans require presoaking, but the quickest cooking form are split mung beans.

Mung beans might be more commonly recognized in their raw sprouted form, but when cooked, they have a wonderful earthy flavor similar to lentils. They’re an excellent source of fiber and iron. In Asian cuisine, mung beans are an essential component of curries, bean thread noodles and the traditional Indian dish known as dal. Here is our guide on How To Cook Mung Beans

Ingredients

• 1 cup dried mung beans
• 3 cups water
• Fine mesh strainer

Instructions – How To Cook Mung BeansStep 1.

Put the mung beans into a colander or strainer. Rinse the beans under cool, running water. Remove and discard all discolored beans, debris or bits of rock.

Step 2.

Put the beans into a large saucepan. Pour in 3 cups of cold water for every 1 cup of dried mung beans you use.

Step 3.

Bring the water to a boil. Reduce the heat to allow the mixture to simmer and put the pan’s lid in place. Cook until the beans have reached your desired level of tenderness, about 20 to 30 minutes.

Step 4.

Drain the remaining water through the same fine mesh strainer and use as desired.

Tips – How To Cook Mung Beans:

If you have more cooked beans than you can use at once, store the extra in an airtight container covered with their cooking liquid. They will stay good in the refrigerator for five days or up to six months in the freezer.

Use cooked mung beans in stir-fries, as a bruschetta topping, in tossed green or pasta salads or as an ingredient in vegetarian bean burgers. Substitute split mung beans in any recipe that calls for lentils or split peas.

Warning

When using a pressure cooker to prepare mung beans, be sure to carefully follow the instructions included with your specific brand of cooker.

Health benefits of mung beans

• High in soluble fiber which has been linked to lowering LDL (bad) cholesterol. (One cup cooked beans has approximately 15 grams of fiber)
• Low on the glycemic food index (promoting healthy blood sugar levels)
• Rich in protein (one cup of cooked beans has approximately 14 grams of protein)
• Folk remedy for removing toxic chemicals from the body (I couldn’t find any science to back this up, but it appeared in several sources about the health benefits of mung beans)

Other interesting facts

• Mung beans are most commonly grown in India, although are widely used in all of Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, China, Indonesia)
• They are the base for white, crunchy "bean sprouts"
• Make for a delicious food for children, given their sweet and mild flavor

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